New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-05-15
ROYALTY AND RFPUBLICANISM


II ia not always so easy to interpret contem-
porary events as historians find it TO explain the
past The difference is pretty much that be-
tween vivisoction and cadavcrc dissection
I'm the one case the victim is liable TO kick
and so compromise the am OF the scapcl. In
the other it is amiably quescent and resents no
familiantics. Two recent incidents suggest
these notes, for while they are both so instinct
with oddity "a to invite consideration ii is
decidedly difficult to hit the exact significance
OF them. In the one case find the Queen
OF Great Britain and Ireland. Empress Of India
and so forth. taking to her royal and expansive
bosom (of course in fgurativc moody that
brilliant illustration OF the finest and widest
species Of American independence known as
Buffalo Bill There can be no doubt that the
home of Buffalo Bill is sin the setting sum-
or that he Is a type. or his Wild West show.
moreover, it may be said that it is in all re-
spects as fascinating as a red wagon, and en-
inently calculated to please the sophisticated
British mind. Just why however, Her Bril-
fannie Majesty should have manifested so OK
uberant an approval of the show is one Of
those things which. in the phrase Of the late
lamcnted Lord Dundreary, mo fellow can
understand
But if the springs Of emotion lie too deep
in this case to be touched by any less penetrat-
ing apparatus than a dccpsea lead. how shall
we set about the exploitation Of the remarkable
act Of homage TO royalty performed the other
day at the very edge and border, so to speak.
of the Wild West itself, namely. the bright
and bounding City Of San Francisco Truly
| il Of havp hppn n touchinU xub
Queen Kapio'ani having attended service at
Trinity Church, saw the entire congregation
soemny rise and attunc their mcodious voices
to the regal strains of God Save the Queen
The fact that it has never been the practice
in monarches, and especially in the English
monarchy, to sing God Save the Queen" or
'Rule Britannia or Britannia. the Pride Of
the Ocean, in churches. either during thchours
appointed for divine service or at any other
time no doubt emphasizes the uncomfortable
outpOuring of adaptive Hawaiian Loyalty which
30 carried away the Californian congregation
aforementioned. But why the dusky queen
OF the swiftly dwindling Kanakas should have
inspired this irregular rush of emotion this
irresistible eruption Of exotic sentiment is in
decd one Of those mysteries which, though the
future historian may find it no trouble to ex-
i
pliCate plausibly. none the less perplexes and
confounds the contemporary chroncler
Royalty in London expanding, glowing with
genial delight, over our Buffalo Bill and his
Wild West; the haughtiest OF the Sons Of Free
dom raising the tuneful hymn to far-removed
type of royalty in a Christian church Per-
haps these things are given to us as signs.
Perhaps they are the shadows cast before by
4 Il l.
who seems to have predicted pretty nearly
everything, from the massacre of ST. Bartholo-
new to the passage Of the Interstate Commerce
bill-did that most comprehensive OF prophets
embalm in any OF his mystic stanzas the tri-
umph of Buffalo Bill over British Royalty and
the triumph OF Hawaiian Royalty over Western
Republicanlsm Or do these homogeneous in
cidents figure forth the advent OF the time al